The human rights situation in Mali deteriorated in 2024, as attacks against civilians by Islamist armed groups and abusive counterterrorism operations by Malian armed forces and associated foreign fighters continued. In August, there were clashes between the Malian armed forces and affiliated foreign fighters and a coalition of armed groups, the Permanent Strategic Framework (Cadre Stratégique Permanent, CSP), an alliance of mostly ethnic Tuareg armed groups that have sought independence for the Malian northern region they call Azawad. This followed the end of a peace deal between the two parties in January. Ethnic militias also committed abuses against civilians. By late August, over 600,000 Malians were displaced within and outside of the country, and over 10,000 Malian asylum seekers and migrants had arrived by boat to Spain’s Canary Islands, surpassing all other nationalities.
On September 18, the Al Qaeda-linked group Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) attacked a gendarmerie training school and a military base in Bamako, killing several security force members, a rare attack in Mali’s capital city.
Authorities cracked down on media and the political opposition, narrowing the civic space.
In May, participants in the “Malian national dialogue,” nation-wide discussions largely boycotted by the opposition, recommended extending the military junta-led transition to democratic rule by three years, allowing junta leader Assimi Goita to stand in a future election. In September 2023, the government’s spokesman, Abdoulaye Maiga, announced that the presidential election scheduled for February 2024 would be postponed for “technical reasons.” Also postponed was the adoption of a new constitution.
In January, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger announced they would leave the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a move that would limit opportunities for their citizens to seek justice for human rights violations.
Atrocities by Islamist Armed Groups
The non-governmental organization ACLED reported that Islamist armed groups carried out 326 attacks against civilians, resulting in 478 people killed between January 1 and October 31.
On January 27, JNIM fighters led simultaneous attacks on village of Ogota and Ouémbé, Mopti region. They killed 28 villagers in Ogota, including 3 children, and 4 villagers in Ouémbé. They also burned at least 150 homes in Ogota and 130 homes in Ouémbé, then returned on February 1 to burn the remaining homes. Villagers said they believed they were attacked because some members of the Dan Na Ambassagou militia refused to lay down their weapons following a deal between the militia and JNIM. The Dan Na Ambassagou is an umbrella organization of self-defense groups established in 2016 “to protect the Dogon country,” which provided security in Ogota, Ouémbé, and surrounding villages.
On July 19, alleged Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) fighters attacked a camp for displaced persons, all of whom were ethnic Dawsahak, killing at least seven men, including four older men. The attack was in apparent retaliation against ethnic Dawsahak people, whom the ISGS accuses of being members of the militia known as the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (Mouvement pour le salut de l’Azawad, MSA-D), once allied with the Malian government since a 2015 peace agreement, and which has carried out attacks against the ISGS in Mali’s northeast.
Between June and November, JNIM fighters attacked at least ten villages in the Doucombo district area and at least one in the Pignari Bana district area, Bandiagara region, burning over 1,000 homes and looting over 3,500 livestock. According to witness accounts and satellite images analyzed by Human Rights Watch, on June 25, JNIM fighters attacked Tegourou village, burning at least ten homes; on July 1, they attacked Djiguibombo, burning several homes and the local health center; on August 24, they attacked Tilé village and burned over 500 homes; on September 29, they attacked Pel Kanda, Songo, Ndiombo, and Antaba villages, burning at least 450 homes, of which at least 150 in Pel Kanda, 100 in Songo, and about the same number in Ndiombo and Antaba, and on October 13 and 14, they attacked the villages of Danibombo 2 and Danibombo 1 respectively, burning at least 140 homes. They also killed two men in Tegourou, at least ten people in Djiguibombo, one man in Pel Kanda, four men and one woman in Songo, five men in Danibombo 2, and injured six other men in Danibombo 1. Witnesses said the attacks were in retaliation against local communities whom the JNIM accused of collaborating with the Dan Na Ambassagou militia.
Abuses by State Security Forces
According to ACLED, Malian security forces and allied forces carried out 239 operations against civilians, resulting in 1,021 people killed between January 1 and October 11, compared to 184 operations resulting in 632 people killed over the same period in 2023.
Malian and allied foreign fighters apparently associated with the Russia-linked Wagner Group were implicated in unlawful killings of civilians during counterterrorism operations in central and northern Mali.
On January 25, Malian armed forces and Wagner fighters carried out a military operation in Attara village, Timbuktu region. They threatened villagers with death, summarily killed seven civilian men, and looted property.
The same day, Wagner fighters, with at least one Malian soldier, attacked the ethnic-Bozo settlement of Dakka Sebbe, Segou region. They tortured three ethnic-Fulani men whom they suspected of collaborating with Islamist armed groups.
The following day, Malian soldiers, searching for Islamist fighters in Ouro Fero village, Nara region, arrested 25 people, including 4 children. Later the same day, villagers found the charred bodies of the 25 people who were arrested about four kilometers from Ouro Fero.
On February 16, a Malian drone bombed a wedding celebration in Konokassi village, Segou region, killing at least five men and two boys. The following day, as villagers attempted to bury the bodies of those killed during the wedding, a second drone strike hit a group of people at the Konokassi cemetery, killing five men and two boys.
On May 2, during a counter-insurgency operation in N’Dola, Segou region, Malian soldiers killed six civilian men and arrested eight other men. On May 9, soldiers returned to N’Dola and burned down up to 100 homes.
On May 3, a group of Malian soldiers and Wagner fighters killed two men and one boy in Barikoro, a village in a JNIM-controlled area in Segou region.
On August 9 and 16, Malian soldiers and Wagner fighters conducted two separate counter-insurgency operations in Ala and Dounkala villages, Segou region, disappearing two men in Ala and two others in Dounkala and killing one man in Dounkala.
Malian drone strikes, which the Malian armed forces claimed targeted armed group members, killed at least five children and two men in Tinzaouaten, Kidal region, on August 25.
On October 8, during a counter-insurgency operation in Ndorgolle village, Segou region, Malian soldiers and Wagner fighters killed two men and arrested three other men.
Abuses by Ethnic Militias
In January, Dozo militiamen attacked Kalala village, Segou region, and killed 13 people, including 3 older men, one of them blind, an older woman, and 2 children. The Dozo, or “traditional hunting societies,” consisting mainly of ethnic Bambara, have acted as village self-defense forces in the Segou and Mopti regions since about 2014. Human Rights Watch has documented Dozo abuses against Fulani civilians, as well as allegations that Dozo and other self-defense groups have acted as Malian army proxies. The attack in Kalala, with a predominantly Fulani population, was in apparent retaliation for JNIM attacks against ethnic-Bambara in surrounding villages in late 2023.
In the same month, Dozo militiamen abducted 24 people in Boura, a village with a predominantly Fulani population in Segou region. They also looted homes and livestock. The attack was in apparent retaliation against ethnic Fulani whom the Dozo accuse of collaborating with the JNIM.
Attacks on Civil and Political Rights
Mali’s junta cracked down on peaceful dissent, political opposition, civil society, and the media, shrinking the country’s civic and political space. Authorities dissolved political and civil society organizations, forcibly disappeared at least one whistleblower, and arrested journalists.
On April 10, the Council of Ministers adopted a decree suspending the activities of political parties and associations across the country “until further notice.” The action appeared to be in response to the March 31 call by more than 80 political parties and associations for a return to constitutional order by holding presidential elections as soon as possible. In July, the junta lifted the ban on political party activities.
The junta dissolved at least three civil society associations in 2024, including the Association of Pupils and Students of Mali (L’Association des élèves et étudiants du Mali), the Coordination of Movements, Associations, and Sympathizers of Imam Mahmoud Dicko (Coordination des mouvements, associations et sympathisants de l’imam Mahmoud Dicko), and Kaoural Renewal (Kaoural Renouveau).
Accountability for Abuses
There was little progress in government investigations into several incidents of reported abuse.
On June 21, the International Criminal Court unsealed an arrest warrant against the alleged former head of Ansar Dine, an abusive Islamist armed group, for alleged crimes committed in northern Mali between 2012 and 2013. Also in June, the court convicted a former senior official of Al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb on some of the war crimes and crimes against humanity charges brought against him.